- Emily Webley-Smith, a professional tennis player from Bristol, recalls some of her most treasured memories while travelling the world.
- Her childhood dreams of playing the sport she loves have been achieved – but life as a pro player isn’t how people might imagine it.
- Emily’s experiences offer an eye-opening glimpse into the lives of so many athletes across the world, barely breaking even and manifesting their way to the next tournament.
- She shares cherished memories of playing at Wimbledon: “I was just so excited to be on the courts.”
In the world of professional tennis, where grand slam titles and top rankings are what measure success, there are hundreds of players whose story is not defined by trophies but by resilience and relentless passion, writes Joey Brookes. Emily Webley-Smith may not be a household name, yet her journey throughout her career encapsulates the reality of so many athletes worldwide.
At 39, Webley-Smith is the perfect testament to the grit and perseverance required to strive for a career full of highs and longevity. For over two decades, she has navigated the professional tour across ITF, WTA and Grand Slam levels, with a career-best ranking of 113th in the world.
Beyond the timeless elegance of Wimbledon, there are another 50 weeks of the year players are competing for ranking points and prize money. Unfortunately not many other tournaments offer the glitz and glamour of the All-England Club.
“I just want to show the reality of it,” said Emily, “because if people are starting to play or if they’re not as big of a fan, I think sometimes it seems so far from what it is. Most of the time I’m in a €40 Airbnb in a small village in Sicily trying to find some pasta.”
While discussing some of the more challenging places she has played in, Emily said: “Suzhou in China was one of the worst tournaments I’ve ever played. I think I lost three and a half kilos in a week… there was nothing to eat, the courts were terrible, and it was just in the absolute middle of nowhere. The air quality was awful, and it was recommended on my phone to not exercise outside.
“Nigeria was tough because I didn’t feel safe as a woman, but [I] played quite well there because it was hot, so I give it the benefit of the doubt. If there’s sunshine, I can cope with anything.”
Travelling and being away from home is a side to the sport many athletes find challenging. Although being in a new country almost every week sounds appealing, often players are away from their loved ones for months at a time.
This is especially as tough for Emily. Her mother, Jane, a former PE and maths teacher, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease six years ago. Emily describes her mother as “a fiercely independent woman” which she admitted has made caring for her much more tough.
Her father, Mike, an avid cricket fan and past player has been fighting cancer on and off for the past ten years. Last year he went through 36 weeks of chemotherapy, leaving Emily to reassess her travelling schedule.
“I would try and play two weeks in a row and then go home, or choose a European schedule where if I lost early in a tournament, I could squeeze in three or four days at home,” she said. “I’ve never had a problem travelling and I certainly don’t miss England in the winter that’s for sure, but it is very difficult leaving now because I know the impact that has on my family at home.
“I’ve sacrificed so much for my tennis through the years – Christmases, birthday parties, boyfriends, normal life, all that sort of stuff. But as you get older things change in your head with your priorities and your parents, and that comes above my tennis at the moment. I’m compromising a bit in what I’m doing but I’m just trying to do the best I can.
“Throughout my whole career, they’ve been the best tennis parents you can imagine so I’m really lucky with that.”
Despite picking up a singles win in 2004, 2021 was the last time Emily competed at the Wimbledon Championships, receiving a wildcard entry into the Ladies Doubles event with fellow Brit Beth Grey. Emily looks back on the moment very fondly.
“It was a really, really, really strong performance from me,” she said. “I played really well I only have good memories of that. I was just so excited to be on the courts at Wimbledon.”
The pair lost in an agonising final set, to a very strong and heavily-favoured Czech team, but the standard of tennis on both sides of the net was worthy of more than a first-round matchup.
Tennis being an individual sport can be isolating at times. Lower-level tournaments do not award the amount of prize money that would allow players to afford to travel with a team of coaches and physios. Wimbledon, and the few weeks prior, offer lower-ranked British players in a less fortunate position, to at least have familiar faces around. Emily’s family travelled to the Championships for her match.
“It was super close but what was most important for me was that my parents, my sister and her husband were there sitting behind my chair during the match. I don’t have a coach and I don’t have a team, so it was super cool that they were there, and it was great to be able to share that with them.”
The history behind Wimbledon, as well as its iconic stature, does not always allow those competing to play to their potential. The surface itself does not suit everyone, yet Emily feels as if the grass courts make her shot selection much clearer.
“For me [nerves are] not determined by the crowd or the magnitude of the event or the prize money or anything. I could be on court 24 in the middle of nowhere, with no one watching and no live stream, and feel nervous. But I just wasn’t at Wimbledon.”
Emily has a sense of comfort when part of the tournament, and although she describes it as being weird, it is a feeling that many envy.
A highlight of Emily’s 2023 came at the end of the season when she made the doubles final in Solarino, Italy. When partnering long-time friend Sofia Shapatava, the pair cannot help but get up to mischief, which both document on their social media. Usually, Carpool Karaoke road trips, TikTok trends and general laughter are the pairs go-to, yet this trip trumped that.
Having finished their semi-final late in the evening, Emily and Sofia travelled straight from the court to the nearby beach, as there was nowhere on site for recovery. They had rented a car at the start of their three-week stay in Italy, using it to travel between the tournament and their accommodation.
“I would do yoga on the beach and Sof would go for a little run. We had played quite late, and the sun goes down early in the winter in Italy so instead of going back to the apartment we went directly to the beach in our match clothes with our racket bags in the back of the car,” she said.
As the pair returned to the car, they couldn’t help but notice the whole of the rear windscreen had been smashed into.
“We didn’t have a great deal of amount on our credit card for a huge deposit or repair and then we realised the rackets were in the back and the bag had gone.”
“I had an air tag on my racket bag, and I checked my phone to see it disappearing up the coast and I was like ‘let’s go let’s go’. The rackets and shoes are totally replaceable but maybe not the night before a final,” she said.
With a lot at stake the next day, and the disinterest when trying to report the issue, the pair headed back to the apartment they were renting.
“It’s six in the morning, I’ve had maybe four or five hours of sleep, I shot up and said ‘sorry Sof I’m going, you’re either staying here or I’m driving’. We have a bit of an argument and then she was like ‘alright I’m coming’. It was funny because we were a pair of blondies in Italy dressed in hoodies with a knife, we’re not looking too scary right now.”
“It felt like a horror movie, the area was getting more and more remote there was a quarry and disused mechanical buildings with no people and no cars, it was eerie as hell.”
“We parked up, I walked maybe fifty metres away from the car and as I was just about to turn, I spotted our bags. I grabbed them and started running back to the car. We pull over 20 minutes back into the journey and by some miracle, the rackets and shoes are still there.”
“Sofia and I have had some adventures together, both broke with €50 trying to manifest getting into the next event somehow, but this one was right up there,” she said.
Emily and Sofia arrived at the tournament venue, carrying their racket bags, which at one stage seemed impossible.
“We got back to the courts had a 20-minute quick warm-up and were into the final. The ridiculousness of the situation did not rub off on us, when we were trying to be mad and upset over a shot, we just looked at each other and laughed,” she said.
The pair eventually lost the final, but the 24 hours prior were lifelong memories neither will forget.
In the crazy world of sports media, athletes’ personalities are often dehumanised and disingenuous. Through hearing stories from sports stars like Emily Webley-Smith, our eyes are opened to the reality of having a professional career within tennis. Blood, sweat and tears would be an understatement in describing the ongoing battles these athletes face on a day-to-day basis.
Through Emily’s journey, we find a reminder that even in the face of adversity, with a little hard work and a lot of laughter, anything is possible.
